Chapter Text
(Eddie’s POV)
Eddie Munson was getting real tired of playing babysitter as a fill-in for Steve Harrington. Steve had picked up an absurd amount of shifts at Family Video in preparation for Dustin’s birthday, and Eddie had naively agreed to take care of the kids for the week. What he didn’t realize was that this would be a truly 24/7 gig. Eddie did not have enough ring-clad fingers to list the number of times one of those nut cases spawned at the door of his trailer requesting a ride to the nearest arcade or movie theater. You’d think with all the child murders that have only recently dissipated, the kids would be a bit more hesitant to be out in public.
So when Eddie was practically sweating while painting his newest DND figurine (a griffin named Rodrick that Mike pulled out of his ass during last week’s session), he wasn’t exactly shocked or excited about the knock against his door.
He groaned and set down his paintbrush, wiping off some of the sweat from underneath his bangs as he opened the door. To his surprise, none of the twerps were at his door but instead a significantly taller twerp: Steve Harrington.
Eddie squinted in confusion, “Shouldn’t you be at Family Video right now?” Steve, meanwhile, raised his eyebrows in silence. His mouth was slightly agape and his eyes dilated. “Earth to Steve? Steve?” Eddie asked while silently praying he was not about to bear witness to a Chrissy part 2.
Luckily, Steve managed to snap his mouth and jostle himself back into reality. “It’s Saturday so…”
Ahhh, Eddie thought, the babysitting shift is finally over. He sighed in relief, a grin taking over his face. “Harrington, my respect for you has grown immensely. I truly did not realize how much of a-”
“Have you always had glasses?” Steve interrupted.
Eddie froze. Realization suddenly dawned on him that he had yet to take off the glasses that he exclusively wore when in deep focus, like painting a goddamn griffin. He definitely didn’t wear them in the company of others, let alone King Steve who would’ve proudly called him four eyes while shoving him into a locker. But King Steve wasn’t who the man in front of him was anymore and Eddie had to remind himself of that.
“Oh, these old things?” Eddie quickly turned the interruption into a tease, instead suggesting that Steve was flirting with him, which Eddie knew could never be true in a million years, obviously. He took off the glasses regardless, a part of him still embarrassed at how dorky they looked on his face. They were black, square, and thick. They never really jived with how Eddie tried to present himself. “They’re just for reading.”
“Oh, were you reading something?” Steve cocked his head, clearly not taking Eddie as a literature nerd. His eyebrows raised as he seemed to correct himself, “Is it like that… that lord stuff?”
“The Bible?” Eddie choked.
“No!” Steve put his hands up defensively. “Like Lord of the kings? Lord of… I don’t know weren’t you and Dustin saying shit about murder earlier?”
Eddie squinted, trying to paint the picture of what Steve was getting at without also making him feel dumb. He clapped as the light went off in his head. “Mordor, yes! The book is called Lord of the Rings, highly recommend, if you dig that type of thing.”
(Steve’s POV)
Steve may not consider his type of thing to ever align with Eddie Munson’s type of thing, but if Eddie’s thing was wearing glasses then Steve could definitely dig it. When he so innocently knocked on Eddie’s trailer, just expecting to thank him for taking care of the kids and accepting his role as resident babysitter again, he did not mentally prepare himself for Eddie to answer the door with disheveled hair and the dorkiest glasses Steve has ever seen.
When Eddie squinted at him through the thick frames, his eyes magnified and Steve could see every swirl of warmth in his deep brown eyes. He couldn’t help but freeze a moment in admiration. Stop that right now, Harrington scolded himself. He could never date a guy, let alone Eddie ‘the Freak’ Munson. He shouldn’t let himself even take note of how cute Eddie’s eyes are, or his dimples, or his devilish grin that gives those satanic vessel theories some credibility. No, that was simply silly and so not Steve Harrington.
While Steve was on this introspective journey in his mind, Eddie got tired of waiting for a response. “Anyways, kids are yours again, Harrington. They miss you if it makes you feel better. Apparently listening to Ozzy Osbourne on the way to watch “Aliens” was not what the kids considered a good time. But what do they know about good music anyway?”
Steve chuckled as he reclaimed his bearings. He found himself doing that a lot around Eddie, despite having a totally neutral stance towards him and not a desperate urge to impress him. Surely it was nothing. “Yeah, sorry for interrupting you reading,” Steve took the liberty to glance back up at Eddie, whose glasses have since left his face. How did Steve not notice that? His eyes flickered down to Eddie’s scrawny hands and saw the frames safely in his palms. Dammit, Steve thought to himself, put them back on!
Harrington quickly decided to throw that thought away and get this over with altogether before he completely and utterly embarrassed himself in front of Eddie and could never face Dustin’s other dad again. “I just wanted to say thank you for watching the kids, ya know, they can be a real handful.”
“Don’t I know it, brother! I didn’t realize how entitled little Dustybun was until he criticized my mac and cheese for not being as ‘milky’ as yours. Whatever that means.” Eddie scrunched his face up in defense. The back of Steve’s mind seemed to think if it wished hard enough for Eddie to put his glasses back on then Eddie would somehow comply. Sadly, Steve was no Eleven, and Eddie’s eyes remained bare.
Despite his disappointment, Steve still managed a giddy smirk at the idea of Dustin secretly enjoying his cooking. “We’ve raised monsters.”
Eddie cackles at that and claps Steve on the shoulder, sending shivers down the swimmer’s spine. Okay, maybe Steve did have a bit of a crush.